1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiographic imaging control apparatus for controlling a radiant ray generation apparatus configured to irradiate a subject with radiant rays.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional radiographic imaging system can detect a transmission distribution of radiant rays (represented by X-rays) having been transmitted through a subject, and can be used in a medical field to help diagnose by imaging the inside of a human body.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-124975, a conventional radiographic imaging system can realize real-time suppression of radiation exposure by changing the level of X-ray dose according to a portion of a human body to be diagnosed.
Furthermore, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-77709, the dose of X-rays used in the diagnosis of a human body can be changed according to a status of a display unit that displays radiographic image information.
However, in the imaging of a human body based on transmission of X-ray, it is inevitable that the human body is significantly exposed to the X-ray. In general, detailed diagnosis of a human body requires a higher level of X-rays and increases the risk of damaging the human body with the X-rays. On the other hand, if the level of X-ray dose is lowered for the purpose of suppressing radiation damage, the image quality of a radiographic image deteriorates due to generation and increase of noise. Thus, the X-ray procedure can cause a problem for medical purposes.
The above-described conventional system is configured to control the X-ray dose to an appropriate level according to the purpose of a radiographic imaging operation. However, according to the above-described conventional system, the X-ray dose is fixed to a predetermined level in an initial state and, after the system starts a radiographic imaging operation, an operator is allowed to manually change the X-ray dose. Therefore, the subject may be unwittingly exposed to a higher level of X-ray for a long time.
Conventional radiographic imaging systems cannot prevent the image quality of a radiographic image from deteriorating without excessively irradiating the subject.